Monday, December 13, 2010

The news story is about a little girl named Keyara Walls. She has Nephrotic Syndrome just like my Myla bear does. Keyara was diagnosed when she was only 1 and is now 6 years old. Her Nephrotic Syndrome does not seem in control like Myla's is for the moment but it scares me, really scares me to read this and think about how quickly Myla's life can change.

I have felt so blessed that Myla has had a break from high dose steroids for about a month. She has slimmed down some and her mood has been more even.....

But how as a mom do I not scream out and say no I do not want to give her the bad drugs any more. No I don't want to make her body hurt. No I do not want to cause anymore damage to her body or her eyes. No I do not want her to gain weight and then for her to feel embarrassed that she is wearing a leotard for her dance performance and people will see her "big belly" (Myla feels that way not me).

Then I think I want my daughter to live so I give her the bad drugs. Knowing that even if she one day grows out of this that there will still be last effects for everything we gave her to save her life.

I cry for my little girl, I cry for all the kids that have it so much worse than Myla.

Please take a few minutes to read Keyara's story. It really helps put life or trials in perspective.

(In Keyara's picture I know those cheeks all too well. Notice how large her face is but how little her ankles are. That is so Myla when she relapses)

I LOVE every part of Utah. Yes you did read that right. I forget how much I enjoy it until I go back to visit and than as soon as I cross that Utah border it all comes right back.

Kirk's mom has a three story house that she rents out about two blocks from BYU. It so happened that it was vacant for a few months and she was kind enough to let us stay there for a week. We LOVED it.

It was a nice treat to go on vacation and have a whole house to ourselves. When we got snowed in I was so happy we were "stuck" a few more days.

Sariah just happened to be asleep every time we went out to play in the snow. I guess we wore her out!Myla was pro at making snow angels.

This was where we were staying. What a beautiful winter wonderland!!

Christmas lights at the Salt Lake Temple. The pictures did not turn out that great since I only had one hand. It truly was beautiful there!

"Heeeey, it looks just like a Christmas tree."Extra points if you can name that movie!

Our friends have a brother that owns Mo Bettah Steaks (Hawaiian food) in SLC. They told us to check it out since it is good. The were way wrong. It was AMAZING!! Even Capri was smiling!

Monday, November 15, 2010

I have been hiding behind my sewing machine and glue gun for quite some time. I just finished my first craft fair and had a really good time doing it! Here is just some of the things left that I created.

Tag blankets and I spy bags (these are great go with child toys).

Fancy socks

Baby and toddler dresses

I LOVE these diaper/wipe clutches. This was the only left and I like the fabric but I really loved some of the other ones. I wish I would have taken pictures before.

Binky strap and sippy cup straps. Capri is not a big binky baby but loves to chew on it and the strap. Also I am so excited for the sippy cup straps. These are great for car seats (for our upcoming road trip), strollers or even high chairs. It will hopefully save me the pick up game or lost sippy cups.

Monday, November 8, 2010

We have decided that trunk or treating is the way to go with three small kids.

This year as with every year we go to our church trunk or treat (no trick or treating on Halloween for us since it was Sunday). The kids had so much fun and got a big bag full of candy.

Myla was so funny. We were almost done with all the cars and Myla said, "Mom my bag is full, I am done!! I love how innocent they are at this age. Really they don't get candy that much so they would have been very happy with one or two pieces.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Election Day is always an important day for our family. I think I have voted every year since I turned 18. We have made it a family tradition to pull open the big Voter Information Pamphlet as a FHE. We go over each proposition and all the people elected and make the decision on who to vote for as a family (I promise our kids really enjoy it).

We want our children to grow up knowing that they have a voice in how our country and even our county is ran. We are very blessed to live in American! Now go out and vote.

Monday, November 1, 2010

In an attempt to make Christmas a little more about Christ and not so much about things, we have decided to go homemade. Ok well a compromise for the older children is 50/50.

I have a couple ideas that I would like to make but I thought I would see if anyone wants to join me. An idea would be we could get together once a week or every other week to share ideas and make some presents.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

As promised, here is my version of the sensory tag blanket. I am not a rule-follower when it comes to sewing. I am self taught, so I hope this tutorial makes sense to you.

I like my tag blankets small because then they can fit into the diaper bag, go in the car, or be carried into church. Large blankets would also be nice to throw on the floor as an activities mat. Either way they are so cute.

First, pre-wash the fabric you decide to use. Don't tell anyone but I never pre-wash. I know, I know, those are the rules but I don't like that rule and I have not had a problem yet...

Choose a size that works for your needs, then cut out two pieces of cloth, a top and a bottom.

With the wrong side face up I fold 1/4 inch all the way around the top and bottom of the fabric. You could either pin it in place or I like to iron it in place.

Fold your ribbons in half and pin them on the bottom fabric all the way around. I like to put my ribbon in a pattern so the whole thing matches. Either way works.

Pin the top fabric to the bottom fabric with "wrong sides" together.

Now sew a single stitch around the entire square close to the edge.

You could now be done or here are a few more options that I put on mine.

I like the idea of a pocket. It is great for small books or toys.

For the pocket, cut a piece that looks nice with the size of blanket you made. Next, fold down the top 1/4 inch and sew a straight line. Then pin/iron down 1/4 inch all the way around the pocket on the three other sides. Pin the pocket to the blanket and then sew the three sides down.

Last I like to add buttons to one tag on each side of the blanket. That way I can attach new toys to keep the blanket fun. There are many kinds of buttons at the fabric store. As you can see in the pictures are sewn in place. They work but are not my favorite. My favorite buttons are hammered in place.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

For every birthday growing up my mom would make us our favorite homemade ice cream. She would pull out the wood barrel ice cream maker, fill it full of ice and rock salt and for hours (it seemed) we would hear that thing running. The ice cream was amazing!! I have since tried to pass that tradition down to my kids but it just seems like so much work.

Not any more!! For my birthday my mom bought me a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Let me just tell you I am totally in love. It takes 20 minutes to whip up a batch of ice cream and you can either eat it then and have it be more a soft serve or freeze it for a few hours and it is more like store bought.

It makes the perfect size for our family and there is normally not a ton of left overs that will be calling me name for days.

Any ideas what color store bought vanilla ice cream is??? Yellow. Any ideas what color homemade vanilla ice cream is? White. Also I can read the names of everything I put into my mine. Just something to think about.

Here is to a almost guilt free dessert. Quinoa pudding! If you like quinoa you will love this.

If you do not know what quinoa is (pronounced as KEEN-WAH ) let me bore you for a minute. because it is amazing!Quinoa is 100% whole grain and is close to being a perfect food source in the balance of nutrition it provides. Technically it's not a grain but they call it that. Quinoa is an excellent source of protein - 12% to 18%. According to The National Academy of Sciences, quinoa is "one of the best sources of protein in the vegetable kingdom". Quinoa contains the amino acid lysine which helps the body produce protein. It also helps the body process the protein in the quinoa and in other foods. The World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in quinoa to be equivalent or superior to that found in milk products. See amazing!

This recipe I found here came from a beautiful blog. Worth checking out and drooling over.

chopped pistachios (I did not add them but a great idea if you like nuts on desserts)

Place the quinoa in a strainer and rinse it with cold water.

Combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the quinoa and stir. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 30 minutes stirring every few minutes. If skin starts to form on top of the milk, just stir it back in. The milk will reduce and thicken. Ladle into bowls.

Place cut strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle them with sugar. Toss them and let them sit at room temperature for about an hour until juices start to come out.

Top the puddings with the strawberries and chopped pistachios.

Quinoa info found on http://www.quinoa-recipes.com/Quinoa_Pages/What_Is_Quinoa.html

Monday, October 18, 2010

Myla crawled for two days before she walked. I was always worried because I have heard that kids that don't crawl struggle with reading. Silly I know!

Well at four years old Myla is a reader! It is so fun to see how excited she gets each time she learns a new word. She even read friends today (seven letters)!! Good job Myla we are so happy for you and love watching you grow.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

For just over a month now Sariah has been having "episodes" (3) that look like seizures. Just to be safe we brought her into her doctor and from there they made an appointment for a EEG.

With the help of a great friend and my sister we went in today for her EEG. We had to sleep deprive Sariah so that she would sleep during the appointment. On a side note if you sleep deprive the child that also means you sleep deprive the mom (why am I still awake???) Since Kirk left early early this morning to Florida for business I was worried about how I was going to keep Sariah awake on the drive down. Nikki watched Myla for me and my sister drove all the way from Roseville to drive with me to Sacramento and also to take care of Capri during the appointment.

It went really well. I had to get Sariah to fall asleep so I gave her her drug of choice.... you guessed it raisins! I don't know what it is but raisins do it every time. She puts some in her mouth and starts sucking on them while she takes some in her hand and then rubs them on her lips, face, arms, eyes..... you name it. I know it sounds really weird and lets face it, it is ummm interesting but sooooo cute at the same time.

Once she was out they hooked her up to all kinds of wires then monitored her for about 25 minutes. After that they put on a strobe light for about 5-8 mins and then I had to wake her up and then they monitored her one last time. Then off we went. We should find out on Friday (which means next week sometime) the results. I really thing everything is ok but at least this will give us peace of mind!

Notice the box next to Sariah. See I was not kidding.

This picture was last month before I bit the bullet and potty trained Sariah. She was so ready and was potty trained in one day. For my kids so far 2 1/2 is the perfect age to potty train.

I have the best job in the whole world! I'm a mommy... I have birthed three amazing, sassy, BUSY, little girls. I have gained two wonderful kids, one boy and one girl. That makes five kids under one roof!
I love being a mommy, let me say that again, I LOVE being a mommy. I also love making crafts, sewing, reading, being out doors, learning, and just having fun!